Adamawa State Governor Umar Bindow has assured the state will implement the N30, 000 agreed by the tripartite committee on the new National minimum wage.

The governor told The Nation in an interview in Yola, the state capital, that whatever is agreed upon by the federal government will be implemented by the state without any reservation.

He declared he was of the firm belief workers deserve their wages.

Bindow, who insisted payment of salaries was not an achievement any government or employers should be parading, said despite the lean resources of the state, his government has kept faith with regular payment of salaries to workers, including payment of arrears of salaries inherited from previous government.

He said: “When we came in, there was nothing. Even mere salary of worked in the state was not paid.

“There was about seven months arrears that the former governor refused to pay.

“But I have been able to offset the arrears with about N5 billion because this state is a civil service state.

“They say, yes I am laying infrastructure but they also want their stomach infrastructure by way of salaries taken care of too and of course people must eat.

“If there is any country or state that cannot pay salaries, that country or state is a failed state because personally, paying salaries is not a yardstick for performance.

“It is compulsory that you pay people because they are working. So, it is not a developmental yardstick.

“You cannot say because this governor is paying salaries, then he has performed.”

On the position of some governors that N30, 000 is unaffordable, Bindow said: “As far as we are concerned in Adamawa, whatever the federal government agrees to, we also agree to pay. I cannot do otherwise.”

Speaking on his relationship with Labour in the state, the governor said: “Whatever I do, I carry everybody along. Whatever I do in the state, even if it does not affect them, I call them in and they see how I do things.

“I have been paying their salaries and don‘t have problem with them. I am always with them and whenever they invite me, I am always there for them.”

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